The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the Untied States estimates that on average each year approximately 100,000 vehicular accidents are caused by sleepy (dozing or falling asleep at the wheel) drivers. Drowsy driving kills yearly about 1,500 (drivers and passengers) and causes 71,000 bodily injuries. For example, if a drowsy driver is driving at 65 mph and nods off for just three (3) seconds, the driver will have traveled the length of a football field, if the driver does not hit something first. A survey conducted by the National Sleep Foundation found that 17 percent of the drivers polled indicated they had fallen asleep at the wheel of their vehicle within the past year. The state of New Jersey during 2003 has enacted “Maggie's Law” which authorizes a vehicular homicide conviction if a driver is in a fatal crash after at least 24 sleepless hours. The New Jersey statute is the first such law enacted in the United States.
There remains a need for a sleep prevention device while driving that responds to a driver when dozing or falling asleep at the wheel of moving vehicle, as the driver's head moves forward or rearward, in order to sound activate a alarm in the driver's ear. Additionally, the sleep prevention device should include an ear piece element having the alarm mechanism within the ear piece to wake the driver.